Resonating Bodies Online: Social Justice, Social Media, and Music Learning

Author(s):  
Joseph Michael Abramo

This chapter examines issues surrounding social justice in social media and music making. The first part of the chapter frames social media as holding the potential to enact democratic practice. Using the work of Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of “listening” and Peter Szendy’s concept of “arrangement,” the author explores how viral videos and their user-generated covers might be a form of communication and sharing of ideas. This is investigated particularly through the different iterations of the 2012 hit song and video “Call Me Maybe” and the ways users created and circulated parodies. The second part of the chapter undoes this sanguine reading of democracy through social media. It does this, first, by exploring how market forces of profit seeking work to intervene in this process. Through this exploration, the author notes how market forces form the desires and subjectivity of users so that practices that feel like expression of desires are urged on by market forces for the benefit of the market. Then, the chapter looks at how viral videos are constrained by identity politics, and it explores this through covers of Beyoncé’s “Formation,” particularly what happens when this song and video—which is an articulation of black feminist identity—were (mis)appropriated and covered by a white male. Finally, the author addresses the implications for music learning both in and out of school by borrowing from media literacy to develop what he deems “musical social media literacy.”

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Michael Abramo

In this article, I outline what I call the ‘Social Justice Plot’ in online music-making and consumption. I suggest that some popular music follows a particular plot where social justice discourses of fighting against and triumphing against inequalities based on identity is used to form narratives and tension and release in music and other arts. In the participatory culture and participatory politics of social media, consumers of media circulate and comment on these songs as a way to perform their own social justice identities. To explicate this process, I primarily draw upon Beyoncé Knowles’s song ‘Formation’, a cover of the song by a white male artist, and commenters’ reactions on social media to this cover. Through this example, I suggest that this Social Justice Plot is the commodification of anti-oppression discourses for material and moral gain. I conclude with implications for music education research and practice.


Author(s):  
Adam Patrick Bell ◽  
Jesse Rathgeber

This chapter investigates uses of social media by disabled musicians/musicians with disabilities (DM/MwD). It first frames social media as assistive technology, examining how the platforms SingSnap, Bandhub, and Facebook are used by disabled musicians/musicians with disabilities to connect with others and create content. The discussion proceeds with an examination of how this content is perceived and may be (mis)represented and (mis)appropriated by nondisabled audiences. Using a viral video of Julia Maritza Ceja Medina as a critical case study, the analysis applies disability studies literature by examining how content generated by disabled musicians/musicians with disabilities can become inspiration pornography. The authors conclude by noting both the positive and problematic potentials of social media in the music learning and music making of disabled musicians/musicians with disabilities.


Author(s):  
Dewi Novianti ◽  
Siti Fatonah

Social media is a necessity for everyone in communicating and exchanging information. Social media users do not know the boundaries of age, generation, gender, ethnicity, and religion. However, what is interesting is the user among housewives. This study took the research subjects of housewives. Housewives are chosen as research subjects because they are pillars or pillars in a household. If the pillar is strong, then the household will also be healthy. Thus, if we want to build a resilient and robust generation, we will start from the housewives. A healthy household starts from strong mothers too. This study aims to find out the insights of the housewives of Kanoman village regarding the content on smartphones and social media and provide knowledge of social media literacy to housewives. This study used a qualitative approach with data collection techniques using participant observation, interviews, focus group discussion (FGD), and documentation. The results of the study showed that previously housewives had not experienced social media literacy. Then the researchers took steps to be able to achieve the desired literacy results. Researchers took several steps to make them become social media literates. They become able to use social media, understand social media, and even produce messages through social media.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Ranny Rastati

In 2017 the majority of internet users are 19-34 years old or 49.52% (APJI, 2017). Almost half of the internet users in Indonesia are digital natives who were born after 1980: Generation Y (1980-1995) and Generation Z (1996-2009). This research will be focused on Generation Z as the true generation of the internet. Generation Z was born when the internet is available, a contrast to Generation Y who is still experiencing the transition of the internet. The purpose of this research is to find an effective way of providing information about media literacy to Generation Z. Through descriptive qualitative, the study was conducted with in-depth interview and observation toward 12 university students in Jakarta. The results showed that there are four effective ways of providing information about media literacy which is i) videos distributed to social media such as Youtube and Instagram, ii) interesting memes in communicative style, iii) through selebgram or micro-celebrity in Instagram who is consider as a role model and have a positive image, and iv) roadside billboards. Another interesting finding is that male informants tend to like media literacy information through videos and memes, while female informants prefer campaigns conducted by positive image selebgram and billboard. AbstrakPada tahun 2017 pengguna internet di Indonesia mayoritas berusia 19-34 tahun yaitu sebanyak 49,52% (APJI, 2017). Dari data tersebut terlihat bahwa hampir sebagian pengguna internet di Indonesia adalah digital natives atau penutur asli teknologi digital yaitu orang-orang yang lahir setelah tahun 1980: Generasi Y (1980-1995) dan Generasi Z (1996-2009). Penelitian ini akan difokuskan kepada Generasi Z karena mereka dianggap sebagai sebenar-benarnya generasi internet. Generasi Z lahir saat teknologi tersebut sudah tersedia, berbeda dengan Generasi Y yang masih mengalami transisi teknologi hingga menuju internet. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mencari tahu cara yang efektif dalam memberikan informasi mengenai media literasi kepada generasi Z. Metode yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif dengan observasi dan wawancara mendalam. Informan berjumlah 12 orang mahasiswa di Jakarta. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ada empat cara yang efektif dalam memberikan informasi mengenai media literasi yaitu i) video yang disebarkan ke media sosial seperti Youtube dan Instagram, ii) meme menarik dengan bahasa yang mudah dimengerti, iii) melalui selebgram yang menjadi panutan dan berimage positif, dan iv) papan iklan di pinggir jalan. Temuan menarik lainnya adalah informan laki-laki cenderung menyukai informasi media literasi melalui video dan meme yang disebarkan ke media sosial, sementara perempuan lebih menyukai kampanye yang dilakukan oleh selebgram berimage positif dan papan iklan.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Savage

Music education exists in multiple spaces. Within formal approaches to music education in academic institutions, there has been an acknowledgment that more informal pedagogical approaches can be useful (as evidenced in the work of movements such as Musical Futures). However, constructive links between formal and informal contexts for music education remain difficult to navigate for many teachers. Within the United Kingdom, the newly defined roles for music education hubs have made some headway in recasting these relationships in a more productive direction. Similarly, social media has an important role to play in developing new relationships between key agencies within music education. Like any specific technology, there are positive affordances and more negative limitations to such approaches. People have a complex relationship with technology, but they are not gadgets! Lanier’s (2010) thesis argues strongly that recent cultural developments can deaden personal interaction, stifle genuine inventiveness, and change people. Within an educational setting, careful consideration needs to be given to the affordances and limitations of social media. For teachers and designers of learning spaces and opportunities, pedagogy should be underpinned by careful, mindful choices—including wise choices about the tools that teachers and students are using. It is about a focus on the core, asking: What is the key learning that this music lesson is facilitating? Is this tool the best one for the job? Does this tool or approach allow one to teach music musically? Done skillfully and conscientiously, social media can help develop collaborative approaches to music education that provide teachers with pedagogical strength and security. They result in mindful teaching and mindful learning that will last a lifetime. They can also help teachers develop meaningful relationships with students that help them make sense of their musical experiences in whatever context they have emerged through: a truly, “joined-up” approach to music education with the student at the core.


Author(s):  
Evan S. Tobias

Contemporary society is rich with diverse musics and musical practices, many of which are supported or shared via digital and social media. Music educators might address such forms of musical engagement to diversify what occurs in music programs. Realizing the possibilities of social media and addressing issues that might be problematic for music learning and teaching calls for conceptualizing social media in a more expansive manner than focusing on the technology itself. Situating people’s social media use and musical engagement in a larger context of participatory culture that involves music and media may be fruitful in this regard. We might then consider the potential of social media and musical engagement in participatory cultures for music learning and teaching. This chapter offers an overview of how people are applying aspects of participatory culture and social media in educational contexts. Building on work in media studies, media arts, education, and curricular theory, the chapter develops a framework for translating and recontextualizing participatory culture, musical engagement, and social media in ways that might inform music pedagogy and curriculum. In this way, it may help music educators move from an awareness of how people engage with and through music and social media in participatory culture to an orientation of developing related praxis.


Author(s):  
Susan O’Neill

This chapter examines new materiality perspectives to explore the influence of social media on young people’s music learning lives—their sense of identity, community and connection as they engage in and through music across online and offline life spaces. The aim is to provide an interface between activity, materiality, networks, human agency, and the construction of identities within the social media contexts that render young people’s music learning experiences meaningful. The chapter also emphasizes what nomadic pedagogy looks like at a time of transcultural cosmopolitanism and the positioning of youth-as-musical-resources who “make up” new musical opportunities collaboratively with people/materials/time/space. This involves moving beyond the notion of music learning as an educational outcome to embrace, instead, a nomadic pedagogical framework that values and supports the process of young people deciphering and making meaningful connections with the world around them. It is hoped that implications stemming from this discussion will provide insights for researchers, educators, and policymakers with interests in innovative pedagogical approaches and the creation of new learning and digital cultures in music education.


Author(s):  
Marissa Silverman

This chapter asks an important, yet seemingly illusive, question: In what ways does the internet provide (or not) activist—or, for present purposes “artivist”—opportunities and engagements for musicing, music sharing, and music teaching and learning? According to Asante (2008), an “artivist (artist + activist) uses her artistic talents to fight and struggle against injustice and oppression—by any medium necessary. The artivist merges commitment to freedom and justice with the pen, the lens, the brush, the voice, the body, and the imagination. The artivist knows that to make an observation is to have an obligation” (p. 6). Given this view, can (and should) social media be a means to achieve artivism through online musicing and music sharing, and, therefore, music teaching and learning? Taking a feminist perspective, this chapter interrogates the nature of cyber musical artivism as a potential means to a necessary end: positive transformation. In what ways can social media be a conduit (or hindrance) for cyber musical artivism? What might musicing and music sharing gain (or lose) from engaging with online artivist practices? In addition to a philosophical investigation, this chapter will examine select case studies of online artivist music making and music sharing communities with the above concerns in mind, specifically as they relate to music education.


Author(s):  
Donald DeVito ◽  
Gertrude Bien-Aime ◽  
Hannah Ehrli ◽  
Jamie Schumacher

Haiti has experienced a series of catastrophic natural disasters in recent decades, resulting in significant loss of life and long-term damage to infrastructure. One critical outcome of these disasters is that there are approximately 400,000 orphans in the small population of just over 10 million. Throughout Haiti, children with disabilities are often considered cursed, and thus are rejected by the community in which they live. Haitian children with disabilities need creative and educational activities that will help them grow, develop, enjoy their lives, and become accepted members of the community. This chapter on the Haitian Center for Inclusive Education presents a case study of social media engagement and music learning, with an emphasis on social justice that has contributed to sustainable efforts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-80
Author(s):  
Sarah Banet-Weiser

When the hashtag #metoo began to circulate in digital and social media, it challenged a familiar interpretation of those who are raped or sexually harassed as victims, positioning women as embodied agents. Yet, almost exactly a year after the #metoo movement shot to visible prominence, a different, though eerily similar, story began to circulate on the same multi-media platforms as #metoo: a story about white male victimhood. Powerful men in positions of privilege (almost always white) began to take up the mantle of victimhood as their own, often claiming to be victims of false accusations of sexual harassment and assault by women. Through the analysis of five public statements by highly visible, powerful men who have been accused of sexual violence, I argue that the discourse of victimhood is appropriated not by those who have historically suffered but by those in positions of patriarchal power. Almost all of the statements contain some sentiment about how the accusation (occasionally acknowledging the actual violence) ‘ruined their life’, and all of the statements analyzed here center the author, the accused white man, as the key subject in peril and the authors position themselves as truth-tellers about the incidents. These statements underscore certain shifts in the public perception of sexual violence; the very success of the #metoo movement in shifting the narrative has meant that men have had to defend themselves more explicitly in public. In order to wrestle back a hegemonic gender stability, these men take on the mantle of victimhood themselves.


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